Very early this morning I attended Gen. Wellington and his staff as they made their way with considerable rapidity due south to the obscure but vitally important cross-roads at Quatre Bras. It is now clear that the General takes seriously the threat posed by Bonaparte's incursion. It appears that during the night it was learned that the Prussian army was determined to make a stand in the vicinity of Ligny and therefore it became imperative that the Anglo-Allied army lend support by concentrating to the west on the line of the lateral east-west road. Thus, as we rode south from Brussels we passed innumerable British regiments moving at their highest marching speed on the road to Quatre Bras.
The fact that we still have a hold on this vital cross-roads is due to the diligence, but 'il-discipline' of a Netherlands officer who ignored the order for outposts to concentrate on their HQs overnight. Apparently his scouts had seen Marshal Ney's French forces approaching before nightfall and he realised that were he to obey orders and withdraw, the road to Brussels would be wide open.
General Wellington observed the steady trickle of Allied troops into the area of the cross-roads before moving off to the east to meet with Marshal Blucher at his chosen site in the valley formed bytwo streams, the Ligny and its confluence with the Sombreffe. Both commanders agreed that whatever happened they would remain in mutual support of each other and not allow themselves to be pushed apart, thus denying Bonaparte any opportunity to destroy them seperately. Before leaving, Gen. Wellington suggested with considerable tact that the Marshal might prefer to move his massed formations to the reverse side of the valley slope to avoid the attention of French artillery. The gallant Marshal declined the idea, telling Gen. Wellington that Prussian troops preferred to see what was attacking them. With those pleasantries concluded we rode back to Quatre Bras where early French advances had been repulsed - but only with difficulty - as we awaited more re-inforcements from the north and the west.
However, even as we waited, and even as the trickle of arriving allied regiments became a steady stream, we became aware of the French forces under the redoubtable Marshal Ney, massing in even greater numbers in readiness for yet another assault.
Lord Longford's missus wrote a two-volume biography of Wellington. She came across as a rather dim old bird, but her accounts of the battles - Peninsular and Waterloo - were rather good. Whether they were accurate, I couldn't say.
Posted by: dearieme | Wednesday, 16 June 2010 at 21:03